Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Vigilance Fail: Malaysian woman in red Perodua slips past Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs guard post in broad daylight

If you calculate the success rate of Singapore's security forces at the Woodlands Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Checkpoint, a lapse of one vehicle per 50 million or so vehicles per year is an infinitesimally small figure.

But in the eyes of Singapore's security watchers, every lapse is one lapse too many.

From the look of things, the book is going to be thrown at Home Team officers after a vigilance failure by our border guards allegedly resulted in a Malaysian woman ending up in the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) compound on Monday in broad daylight.

This was no sneak attack by commandos with blackened faces done under a moonless night. The unnamed woman had allegedly entered MFA by tailgating an authorised vehicle in a red (couldn't choose a brighter colour) Malaysian registered (sigh...) Perodua (sighs again...) hatchback that had been on the watchlist of the Singapore Police Force since last Friday.

While it is highly unlikely Peroduas will be the infiltration vehicle of choice by Malaysia's crack Grup Gerak Khas, this lapse will affect the careers of Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and Singapore Police Force officers down the chain of command.

Combating vigilance fatigue
Shattering rice bowls to send a message to rank-and-file will not exorcise the ghost of vigilance fatigue.

Indeed, the buzz out there that the lowest ranking individuals will (once again) be hardest hit is likely to damage Home Team morale at  a time when we need everybody to be in high spirits and in top form.

It is a tall order when one has to do one's duty in an organisation that operates 24/365, at a time when the rapid increase in Singapore's resident population is likely to have resulted in a spike in workload.

To be sure, Home Team discipline must be enforced.

At the same time, there can be no better trigger than the MFA intrusion for a top to bottom look at Home Team morale and workload as the discipline process alone - however severe the penalties - will not nix the problem. Even if morale at our border checkpoints is satisfactory, flagging engagement levels are a lead indicator of issues that will crop up sometime downstream, perhaps with grave consequences to Singapore's security and wellbeing than just red faces at certain Singov ministries.

Key questions that are worth mulling over include:
* How is the staff estab level at border checkpoints? In other words, are current staffing levels for ICA and SPF officers sufficient to deal with the surge in travellers during peak seasons?

* How much has the workload increased in the past 10 years? A 10-year analysis would factor in the rapid jump in Singapore residents after the turn of the century when new citizens were introduced in substantial numbers. Our transport system was apparently caught offguard as such infrastructure is a long lead-time item - you cannot build a new rail line overnight. And there are worrying signs our healthcare providers are now bearing the brunt of the population spike, as seen through the shortage of hospital beds.

Workload of frontline officers
So even if estab levels at passport checking booths are fully filled, a higher workload as seen through the footfall and vehicles processed at Tuas and Woodlands would indicate that the assumptions that justified the staffing levels of yesteryear are no longer valid.

If such is the case, would it surprise you that the system is feeling the strain?

To be fair, one swallow does not a summer make. And one lapse at a high-value installation like the MFA should not be indicative of systemic failure. It made newspaper headlines precisely because it is a rare, once in a blue moon event - thanks to the vigilance of the Home Team. [As an aside, the subbing desk at the Today newspaper needs to tighten up its editorial processes. First, it was the howler that the SAF has "369 divisions". Today's report on the MFA incident carries the line "about 68 million vehicles passed through the checkpoints every day". Goodness, this  is major gridlock. Shouldn't it read "every year"?]

It is beyond doubt that Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Teo Chee Hean, is miffed.

"I have expressed my deep dissatisfaction to the Commissioner of ICA and the Commissioner of Police over the breach at Woodlands Checkpoint and the subsequent response actions. This case should have been prevented and dealt with more urgently and decisively as it could have resulted in more serious consequences than what occurred. I have directed the Commissioners to report to me the corrective actions they are taking, and recommend appropriate action to be taken against officers who have not discharged their duties properly," said DPM Teo.

If the Home Team needs a wake-up call, this would be it.

Heartware matters
But guarding against future lapses will demand more than meting out disciplinary penalties because the corrosive effects such penalties may have on the wider Home Team community should not be underestimated.

Morale needs to be attended to, cared for and treasured. And so must the confidence every Home Team officer has in the system that it will look after their interests and wellbeing as workloads vary.

For example, how much has the salary of the average frontline ICA and SPF officer risen in relation to the workload at our border checkpoints? If their salaries have marched in step with NWC guidelines without due consideration for their workload, then perhaps it is time to relook their salary formula. Perhaps the throughput of our checkpoints could be used to calculate a Performance Bonus of sorts, which would reward the team collectively should Singapore enjoy a spike in travellers.

These are soft, heartware issues that can be sidestepped by issuing an imperial edict for rank-and-file to pull up their socks, suck it up and get the job done.

But one must remember that there are certain jobs that cannot be parcelled out to foreign talent and the safety and security of our border checkpoints is a prime example.

If the team is understaffed, overworked and their career trajectory could be compromised by that one in 50 million arse luck incident that occurs during their watch, then Home Team officers mulling their future at a time of the year when bonuses are paid will likely look elsewhere for options.

In short, they can resign. This would be an unfortunate and unintended by-product of the housekeeping in the wake of the MFA incident.

Our security safeguards are only as strong as the weakest link. If weak links have been exposed through unfortunate incidents, be thankful no blood was shed. Be grateful for the opportunity to remedy the situation and help the weak links level up and do better in future.

Never take the morale, confidence and dedication of our frontline officers for granted. They will run the extra mile for you. But when the chips are down, will you do the same for them?

46 comments:

Bernard Teng said...

Proton and Perodua are two different car manufacturers

David Boey said...

Dear Bernard,
Thank you. It seems am more familiar with MID numberplates than civilian vehicles.

Have made the correction.

Best regards,


David

Anonymous said...

I believe the officer manning the particular entrance lane did not press the automated barrier gate on time. Probably lulled by the profile of an innocuous and innocent lady; no idea that she is nuts. A review of the sop is in order.

Anonymous said...

this "mental case" m'sian woman somehow was able to drive about 5 hours from kl to here without clashing along the north-south expressway ?

Anonymous said...

Why not? There are degrees to eccentricity not amounting to full insanity. I like horses. A lot. If you know what i mean. Ehehe

Anonymous said...

MFA is the best place for a Singapore leadership wartime shelter. It is next to the US embassy, the safest place in time of war.

bob villa said...

I shall refrain from commenting for a while ,until the full 'damage control wayang' is done. Another Mas Selamat wayang ver 2 " on the way.

Anonymous said...

Teo Chee Hean directed that "appropriate action" be taken against the officers on duty. The government has excused itself for so many failures. Wong Kan Seng was let off for Mas Selamat's successful escape. Now that the government has an opportunity to show that it admits mistakes, these officers unluckily become a high profile whipping boy.

Suay things happen. Years ago I drove to the police station to make a police report. I also made the mistake of turning to the wrong drive way. Police stations do not have public car parks. So when I drove up, the officer raised the barrier assuming I must be an authorised personnel.

Anonymous said...

Police road blocks are also breached in other countries. I think this happens in sg too. Just tat this case is special as Ms Fabulous drove to MFA. In Malaysia, an unknown car reversed into the PMs car near parliament. Shit happens.

Anonymous said...

Our Police have a lot of powers now.

SINGAPORE — Following the Dec 8 riot at Little India — the Republic’s worst public order disturbance in more than 40 years — the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) today (Jan 20) introduced a temporary Bill that would provide Police with enhanced powers for one year to deal pre-emptively with potential threats to public order in Little India.

Under the enhanced powers, police officers would be allowed, for instance, to strip search a person for alcohol. Police officers holding the rank of sergeant and above would be empowered to raid any place within Little India, without a warrant, if the officer reasonably suspects an offence has been, is being, or likely to be committed.

Anonymous said...

David, Thanks.

Thanks for the courage to speak up for front line staff.

Be it Police, Army, Civil Defence, ICA, healthcare, teachers, etc.

We need to speak up for front line staff and not let the management write their report to cover their own ass and sacrifice front line rank and file staff.

Anonymous said...

Honestly what good does a little internet noise do... you can try to email this article to Teo. He has already made the decision from the comfort of his office.

Anonymous said...

No need...outsource our Police work to the foreigner lah

Quote;
Nsman:
January 22, 2014 at 10:53 am Nsman(Quote)
Now many people are going to point out to this ivory tower and out of touch minister the past security breaches.

It’s a widely known fact that many who man our land checkpoints and the airports are Malaysians in the uniform of the Auxilliary Police, the security business arms of the sovereign wealth funds like TH.

Many spies I believe have already infiltrated the country in the banks, telcos, IT, transport and homeland security. Foreigners in law enforcement have zero loyalty towards the country. You can make them sign all the forms on official secrets you like but it’s easy for them to sabotage any system.

As usual, it takes an incident like this to wake up this minister.

With disciplinary action being taken, there will be more disgruntled officers and their families who will now not vote PAP.

This is another example of a govt that acts only once the horse has bolted. Like SPF.

Homeland security should be in the hands of ONLY true blue Singaporeans

Unquote:

Anonymous said...

Quote:

LTA Officers – always focus on catching NS Men & their families; but let M’sian bus kilang and trucks engine emitting black exhaust smoke, cars with blue, purple, green lights, cars with very dark tinted glass, cars with very small registration plates, very difficult to read font, ,,, all allowed into Singapore to commit crimes.

ICA Officers – always focus on catching NS Men & their families; but, let Malaysian vans with ladders, working tools into Singapore for illegal works [ carpentry, mansonry, air condition servicing, fire system servicing, gardening, ,,,

Customs Officers – let Malaysian smuggle cigerettes, beers, pork, eggs, cakes, into Singapore.

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]

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Anonymous said...

Quote:
This incident is unbelievable and far fetched! Didn’t the PAP ministers said that they are the best to lead us and we have top class civil service. That’s preciously the reason why they should be paid sky high salaries unmatched in the world! Just imagine , a mentally affected woman could go through the Woodlands check point with ease/ undetected, roam around in Singapore for 3 days, although police had been notified to arrest her, and then went through the ministry of foreign affairs, again unstopped. I wonder what have been ICA and the SPF have been doing? What happens if it was terrorist who had entered and remained in the country for so long, can’t imagine the consequences? HOWEVER, AS PER NORMAL, TCH and the commissioners of ICA and SPF would not be responsible or held accountable, going by past record of WKS/MAS escape! Only the poor, low rank ground officers will be made the scapegoat. As usual, TCH had asked for reports and disciplinary actions on the officers involved, corrective actions to be implemented and then move on, so predictable and simple !
This episode must be the joke of other countries, even third world countries could have better security than ours.
Seriously LHL needs to do the something urgent and remove all those who under performed , getting fat salaries. but “Bo chap” and act blur! Otherwise, Singapore will continue to slip further and further.Citizens are waiting for your actions since you have said that under performers will have to go!

VA:F [1.9.22_1171]


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Anonymous said...

Quote:

GoonDoo:
January 22, 2014 at 12:33 pm GoonDoo(Quote)
This incident is alarming for the following reasons:

- An allegedly ‘mentally unstable’ woman was able to get across Sg’s borders, remain undetected for a few days, & is apprehended only when she literally gave herself up by deciding to enter MFA premises. Can you imagine the impact if a trained terrorist had done this? He/they could have wreaked havoc worst than the Little India riot, if they wanted to!

- Sg had defense budget allocated at $12.3b or 25% of our budget in 2012. Of what use is this HUGE investment in our defense if such a simple non-invasive threat could easily slip pass our borders?

This reverse-Mas Selamat incident indicates that our Home Team has not learnt much from that incident. DPM Teo will parade the statistics to show us how infrequently this happens; how many people & cars pass through our borders each day etc etc & that human error is bound to happen. End result? Some poor front-line guards will lose their jobs, & the senior scholar HODs will be re-shuffled to some other govt agencies. Familiar?

Like our transportation woes, Sg’reans will have very little patience when we are told we have to pay astronomical amounts for our defense & such other ‘necessities’, but do not get high quality value in return for such such high costs & trade offs.

VA:F [1.9.22_1171]

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Anonymous said...

pl dunt quote.
just say from your heart.
lionnoisy

Anonymous said...

Anon January 22, 2014 at 10:11 PM

This is not relevant but let me just tell you the reason LTA does not catch Malaysian vehicles with illegal modifications.

Someone actually wrote to LTA and got a reply. It's on one of the car forums with screenshot.

Singapore has signed some Asean or UN convention that gives foreign vehicles access to Singapore. If Singapore bars access to them, it will not have honored the convention. So LTA's administrative law can only be enforced on Singapore vehicles. You know who to thank.

Guess he should ask LTA again this year. The reply will be that you are Singaporean, you don't need to own a car.

Anonymous said...

Anon January 22, 2014 at 2:59 PM

So true! No need Asters or Iron Dome to protect that place!

David,

Maybe the MFA security officers WERE doing their job. Everyone knows that MFA has many motorcades for their guests or themselves. We also know that not every vehicle with S-CD plate is fancy. When these motorcades enter MFA, do they check the individual vehicles or are they instructed to check only the first one? Does the lead vehicle always tell the guards how many vehicles are coming in? If the latter, it is really not the officer's fault. As in the SAF, poor directives can result in the man on the ground taking the blame.

Anonymous said...

Urmmm. Auxilliary Police are commercial security guards on contract by the government to supplement bona fide cops in lesser roles which does not require the use of brain power. You do not need to pay thousands to a cop whose job is to stand guard at a bank. They do not hold sensitive positions unless screened beforehand.

Anonymous said...

I quote as these writers wrote and express better than me, and David and his elites might think that the standard are "Ah Seng / Ah Beng" standard.

We need to be look at things crtically..and not just a mouthpiece of the SAF..

We must not failed, even our MPs failed us..

Anonymous said...

Quote from a Blogger:

Quote:
Security Lapse at Woodland Checkpoint



Apparently a "mad" 27 years old Malaysian Female Teacher from KL was about to avoid the web of security measures to prevent illegal entry into Singapore. She was only arrested 3 days in MFA after she tried to enter without arousing the notice of the security at MFA HQ. The Singapore Police had missed arresting her after she stalked a taxi driver and she followed the taxi into SPF HQ at Cantonment, do a round and the policemen on duty did not stop her nor can remember her car and her face!

Yet, the minister of Home Affairs Mr Teo had said "I have expressed my deep dissatisfaction to the Commissioner of ICA and the Commissioner of Police over the breach at Woodlands Checkpoint and the subsequent response actions. This case should have been prevented and dealt with more urgently and decisively as it could have resulted in more serious consequences than what occurred. I have directed the Commissioners to report to me the corrective actions they are taking, and recommend appropriate action to be taken against officers who have not discharged their duties properly"

Hey wait a minute! The Woodland Check points are manned the by Aetos Security right? Why he allow the outsourcing of security and blame the Commissioner of Police over the lapse? Can the Commissioner of Police say no to him? Why are Malaysians guarding our point of entries?

The MHA budgets in the following years are:

2011 - $3.293 Billions
2012 - $3.435 Billions
2013 - $3.9 Billions

Yet the amount are far cry from SAF budget of $12 Billions, paying $3 Billions plus for front line people from the Singapore Police, SCDF, Prison Services, ICA etc. Why did not the minister ask for more to hire more people to man ICA and prefer to rely on outsource people?? Traffic Police are a rare sight on the road nowadays!


Posted by Phare Anderson at 9:21 PM
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Unquote:

Anonymous said...

quote:

Really:
January 23, 2014 at 3:35 pm Really(Quote)
We spent billions on sophisticated defense equipment but can’t respond fast enough to quell a 400+ foreign workers riot and arrest a mad woman!! A roaring lion without teeth. Anyone foreign country can attack Singapore quite easily and at low cost, low tech too, LOL.

PAP claimed Singapore have no resource so ie no asset but “people” liability. If so, then why we need to spend a huge part of our budget on defense? Anyone who invade us will have to feed the “people” and no resource for them to take away. What are we protecting?

The fact is all along we have an important resource and that is our strategic location and deep port which is why Raffles wanted Singapore. PAP is not being honest about it always using “no resource” to create fear.

VA:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

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Anonymous said...

To the paster,

Well, like I sad before, PAP is in one hell of a fix, and we are in it with them. They've got the businesses so hooked that they can neither raise wages or cut back on foreign workers. The police force is stretched because of the additional policing demands and so has to employ Malaysians and others (Ps have you ever seen a PRC Cisco hide behind Denise Phua's banner so he could stand and eat his rice?). The same for our transport and health systems, and then the spiral starts again. Shut off the flow and we suffer more. It's a forced choice masquerading as a grand vision.

This guy wrote that two big sectors of our economy are experiencing a bubble. MAS issued a refutation shortly.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jessecolombo/2014/01/13/why-singapores-economy-is-heading-for-an-iceland-style-meltdown

Anonymous said...

I want to blow open an issue and have chosen a few select blogs to reach a wide audience.

I have heard from a Malaysian foreign talent that NUH hired one batch of approximately 45 nurses from Malaysia. They graduated from schools such as Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UNIMAS, Sarawak. They have a two year bond. Nothing unusual so far. Here's the kicker. There is a condition in the contract that they must apply to Singapore PR. I leave it at that.

Anonymous said...

S-pass holders dont get to become pr lar. There goes the speculation

Anonymous said...

I know that the spammer of unsubtantiated posts from anti govt blogs is being misleading becuz ica immigration officers man immigration counter booths. Not some make belief aetos security. Btw, the majority of auxillary security personnel have to be sgreans due to work permit and s-pass quota. We cant get malaysians to do all the dirty work.

Anonymous said...

To anon, January 23 at 5:56 PM

About the nurses, I can't show you my source. But let me prove that this is not simple hearsay.

There are many PRC PRs in Singapore who are doing S-pass category jobs. PRs are buying HDB flats in numbers, which they wouldn't be eligible to do if they were merely on S-passes.

"There were 51,000 Housing Board flats fully owned by permanent residents as of end June, representing 6 per cent of all HDB flats." Straits Times

The nurses graduated with a 4 year nursing degree. That would make them senior nurses and they would be in the upper end of the S-Pass category or lower end of the EP category.

Anonymous said...

According to this ST report, a fifth of the 2,163 HDB flat buyers in May 2011 were permanent residents.

http://andrewlohhp.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/hdb477.jpg

Anonymous said...

Yup. I know you cant prove what youve said because it is untrue. Do you even know the accredited institutions to even begin consideration for pr status. Suffice it to say, that is a lot of bull. My wife is staff nurse.

Anonymous said...

Guys, lay off politics. Lets have a miltary discussion. Ty

Anonymous said...

Quote:

For all their sacrifices, should our conscripted servicemen be given less of the national budget than foreign students?
It was revealed in parliament on Monday that the government spends $210 million on tuition grants (which is already a drop) to foreigners. This presumably excludes the other $36 million spent on scholarships.

By contrast, we have approximately 40,000 conscripts. Taking their average pay of $600, their annual payroll costs adds up to $240 million. Our huge defense budget goes not to soldiers but to useless military hardware.

If the main justification is our economy, why not let our conscripts work instead? Why the contrasting priorities and is this acceptable? Such practices would not be politically accepted elsewhere.

Surely, we have been living in unfairness for too long change is needed.

---



* This was a status update from an ongoing petition to reduce National Service by Tan Kin Lian
Source: www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Petition-to-reduce-National-Service/1450910421794913
Unquote:

Anonymous said...

To Anon January 23 at 6:49 PM

"Yup. I know you cant prove what youve said because it is untrue. Do you even know the accredited institutions to even begin consideration for pr status. Suffice it to say, that is a lot of bull. My wife is staff nurse."

If you want to dispute my point by saying the university is not an accredited institution for nursing in Singapore, you're wrong, because these nurses from this university are in Singapore in the flesh.

Anonymous said...

On this point alone, maybe you can ask your wife about the list of accredited institutions and if this one is on the list.

David Boey said...

Quote from Anon 5:50PM:"Ï want to blow open an issue and have chosen a few select blogs to reach a wide audience."

Dear Anon,
With respect, if you have an agenda to push, be prepared to step out of the shadows. DO NOT expect this blog to peddle claims that cannot be substantiated and for this blog to be left high and dry with a theory floated from nowhere, if you yourself are not prepared to step forward.

Some options:
A) Our Parliament has the largest number of Opposition MPs in its history. If you feel your story has legs and the situation is not in Singapore's well-being, speak to one of them. They would know how to protect whistle-blowers and can "blow open" the issue at a national level far better than leveraging on blogs.

B) If nothing on this island can be trusted, speak to the Malaysian media. They too would need you to back up the story - though the level of quality control differs from one newspaper to another.

C) Start your own blog.

The G goes after blog administrators if an issue has been misrepresented. You must know this already.

If you are willing to come forward (thru verifiable email and contact number or face-to-face) to tell your story such that it can be verified or debunked, am happy to share the stage with you. We can then jointly take whatever flak they throw at us.

If you have your own blog, your ROE would probably be the same because having a discussion with phantoms on matters purportedly of national interest does not help at all.

DO NOT exploit this blog for your hatchet jobs knowing you can run for cover at your whim and fancy.

Stand up for what you believe in.

Best regards,


David

Anonymous said...

I should not have brought up the issue here. It was out of place on a defence blog. On the matter of place, I posted here because the comments have been getting so political that it was not a big step to raise it, ie some of the commenters would have been interested. I did not want to start a long discussion, exploit your readership or have your blog push it. That said, I did not make most of the comments here.

I appreciate your time and guidance on what to do with an issue.

As you have said, I did not prove the point. Please feel free to remove the comment.

Anonymous said...

You referred to unsubstantiated claims of nurses having degrees from a gamut of malaysian universities. Whilst their experience, training and basic qualifications allow them to work as s-holders, their degrees are not recognized for them to be e-pass holders; let alone prs. The criteria is strict. There are a lot of bogus institutions from these countries. You cannot even practice medicine in singapore just becuz you have a malaysian medical degree. Only UM and USM malaysian certs are recognized.

hmmwv said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Have empathy for our NS boys:

Quote:


Karmic-Retribution
• 17 hours ago








Our nationalistic “We Are Singapore” theme song sings of courage and empathy. Unfortunately, the three major societal players, The PAP, The Straits Times and Mediacorp did not hold true to their patriotic call and it started to slide a long time ago. When
PM GCT took the reins, he had created a massive landslide but PM LHL very quickly
turned it into an avalanche. But we are known for our humble nature and quiet integrity,
we quickly forgave the PAP for their blunders by showing complete empathy
towards them, warts and all and we bravely soldiered on for our Singapore...We unanimously pledged ourselves as one united people, but what did our leaders do? They sold us out to the foreigners; the richer the better and the tighter was their embrace. They wholly worshipped the foreigner’s wealth above all else...ignoring the
impoverished Singaporean soul. They even called us dogs, but when we spoke out,
ST journalists labeled us as xenophobes.

The Anton Casey dilemma will be the “coup de grace” for this regime. Especially
with ill-informed sarabat-street journalist like William Wan, idiots like him will
surely speed up their definite demise. We are now literate and want to be involved
in our political landscape for our children’s future. We have zero confidence or
tolerance for the rulers that be. A new government is the only solution to
quell the hatred from within.


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Andrew Leung
• 17 hours ago








Mr William Wan should have more empathy for the millions of poor and perfumed Public Transport Users in Singapore. He is incapable of identifying with the hurting and should be removed from his position at SKM. The people want Mr Anton and family to kindly move back to the UK and not pollute our nation with his human trash. We want CrossInvest to donate $1 million to the Poor Public Transport User Fund.


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Anonymous said...

Quote:

This is in response to the stomach-churning Straits Times article by William Wan, the so-called ‘General Secretary’ of the Singapore Kindness Movement.

I am really not sure where on earth this William Wan is from. Maybe he is from Never Never Land perhaps. Maybe he has a daily diet made up entirely of milk and honey. Maybe he survives in Singapore on nothing but fresh air and sunshine. Maybe he travels on a Yellow Brick Road to work and lives in a Gingerbread house. Or maybe he is just your typical pacifist brown nosed bootlicker who’s BFF is chief government propagandist and Straits times editor Warren Fernandez.

Let me get it straight. Here we have an incident where an arrogant unrepentant foreigner bigot by the name of Anton Casey has enraged an entire nation with his highly offensive remarks and contempt for the ordinary man and all William Wan can come up with at this time is to challenge Singaporeans’ empathy and social justice towards this bigot?? So just do us a favour and read the headline of my letter, Mr Wan.

This message is sent with pride on behalf of my fellow Singaporeans below:

- All the poor people in Singapore struggling to make a living because of the low pay, no minimum wage and exploitation by their employers.

- Those hungry poor who still get a pittance from the government because a PAP Minister once said in response to calls for increasing help to the poor; “How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant? “

- All the hard-working taxi drivers in Singapore who drive long hours day and night just to scrape a living.

- All the full-time NS men who shed blood, sweat and tears to serve this country for 2 years and then realize that the PAP government spends hundreds of millions of dollars on Scholarships for Foreigners who don’t serve NS.

- All deserving Singapore students who can’t get places in our local universities because 20% of the places are taken up by Foreigners on government scholarships.

- The residents of Hougang who were denied lift upgrading for more than 20 years and especially the elderly residents in Hougang who had to struggle to climb the stairs to get to their the flats all because they choose to exercise their democratic right to vote for an opposition party.

- All NS Reservist personnel who have to carry the burden of 10 years reservist duty, while at the same time having to juggle their work and family commitments while having to compete unfairly with so called Foreign Talents in the workplace.

- All the wrongly accused detainees who were detained without trial and ill-treated under the Marxist Conspiracy arrests.

- All the bankrupted, harassed and mainstream media vilified Opposition Party politicians.

- Singaporeans Cartoonists who were wrongly accused of sedition.

- All currently unemployed Singaporeans who find it hard to find a job because of unfair competition from Foreigners brought in by the PAP government’s liberal immigration policy.



DDP



Editor’s note: Our editor Richard Wan is not related in anyway to the General-Secretary of Singapore Kindness Movement, William Wan. Do take note :)



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Anonymous said...

If our REGULARS PILOTs / Soliders are so good as what they say...USAF Generals say..What (USA Generals) why do we need NSF to provide security for the whole of Singapore including the Senosta Cove residents:

Maybe the Resident Cove formed their own Reservist Platoon..

Quote:

Looking at feedback, many on this page have expressed that the 2 year national service duration is fine but would like to cut down on the reservist call-ups instead. In today's context, we believe that the costs of such full-time service is less than the benefits it brings.

Consider your typical "A" level holder. He would enlist in Feb and finish in Dec the next year before waiting around to matriculate the following Aug. Even if the time is cut down by a mere 6-months, he would be able to graduate a full academic year earlier.

This reduction will not only benefit the "A" level holders substantially but the rest as well. The additional time could be put to better use in one's primary career for both pay and experience without having to compromise much on national security.

For a polytechnic graduate, this could mean additional earnings of $12,000 over the period.

Our military is strong enough and essential resources would be better used to cut down our reliance on foreigners to build our national identity. Either way, it would be a good time for change as reviews are ongoing.

---

*This was a status update from an ongoing petition to reduce National Service by Tan Kin Lian

Anonymous said...

Quote:
Dear TRS Readers,

The recent spate of events our dear friend Anton Casey has brought to our island has shown us one thing; the foreign talent here needs to start being sensitive to our culture. Not just the caucasians, but the mainlanders and the indians as well.

I currently work in the media industry, in a firm made up of a lot of foreign talent. There are fewer Singaporeans than foreign talent in the company and a lot of these jobs my counterparts are doing can be easily done by competent Singaporeans out there. Being the minority race of the company (how ironic), i find it important to let my colleagues know about some policies the government has laid down to it's people.

Recently, i was sharing with a colleague about my time in national service and reservist. As i was explaining to he, he started giggling and laughing at the thought of me in a uniform, carrying a rifle. He just kept coming on to me, asking me if my job was to be a cook in the army. I am pretty small in stature, so, I get it, it's easy to brush me off as a weakling. Nevermind that he brushed me off. While i kept my cool and continued to explain about national service and used the phrase "In times of war, Singapore will be ready", he made a huge laugh and stopped me. Asked me when has Singapore ever been to war and kept using the Little India Riots as an example of how Singaporeans would categorise that as war. As I walked off from the conversation, he followed me, and said, "In times of war, i would want you by my side, so I can take that SAR-21 or whatever you call that of yours, and protect you instead". He then went to one of the heads of the company, who happened to be a foreign talent as well (no surprises), and told him about what i said about Singaporean men serving the nation. The head of the company just turned around, sniggered and said, "you guys are just paranoid".

Nevermind that this company obviously looks after their own foreign talent. Nevermind that this company is seeing a high number of resignations from singaporeans and is turning a blind eye toward it. But it disappoints me when foreign "talent" like these take lightly of our country's sovereignty.

I am sure Singaporean men all have experiences like that. Meeting imbeciles who think that Singapore is a just a place to them. But Singaporeans are bigger that. I remember an Indonesian minister once said we are but just a small dot on the map. That small dot later activated its armed forces to aid in a couple of natural disasters that country experienced. That's what we are. We are bigger than all these ignorant comments made by foreigners about us.

I call on all singaporeans to unite together. Not to be against the government, or foreign talent.

I call on Singaporeans to start loving our country. Start having a sense of pride when you tell your your friends about singapore and it's beauty. We may not agree with some policies of our government, but this is still our home. We may complain about national service and reservist. We hate it. We hate it when the phone rings and reminds us to acknowledge our upcoming ICT trainings. We hate it when we spend a good two week in camp while our friends are enjoying freedom out there. But deep in our hearts, we know that we are protecting the sovereignty of our country. And that we have to. Forget the racial differences ethnic singaporeans have toward each other, when we wear our uniform, being green/blue is our race. Our soldiers stay equipped with the field knowledge. Our policemen keep the streets safe. Our civil defence answer every call of distress. Thats how we as singaporeans are ready for war.

I sign off with a lame but very real quote my buddy used when i was a OCS cadet which we used to laugh at:

"When we don that uniform, that word SINGAPORE is on the left side of our uniform. That is to signify that Singapore will always be close to our hearts"



:) Singapore Patriot
TRS Contributor
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Anonymous said...

Quote:

Dear William Wan of the Singapore Kindness Movement,

I heard your plea for empathy. It is indeed a call worthy of your lengthy essay.

In this regard, I hope you will speak up for me when the police harassed me again for making a political film, organising a political forum or any such activity.

I hope you will make a similar plea to the government to exercise empathy for cartoonists, artists and bloggers whose homes get raided and computers confiscated by the police for merely expressing their views.

I hope you pen 10,000 word essays on behalf of the JB Jeyaretnams, the Chee Soon Juans, the Yaw Shin Leongs and all the bankrupted, exiled and vilified politicians and activists whose only crime was to oppose the very people who fund and supports your organisation – the PAP Government.

I hope you extend your call for empathy towards the Chia Thye Pohs and the Said Zaharis, and for the thousands who suffered decades of stigmatization and deprivation by the detention without trials of their family members.

And finally, I hope the Singapore Kindness Movement embarks on a nation-wide empathy campaign for the working poor in Singapore, whose tolerance, goodwill and hard work has enabled the Anton Caseys to prosper in an environment for which we build on the back of stagnant wages, long hours and rising inflation – but only to have it rubbed onto our faces.

Yours sincerely,

Martyn See

* This article first appeared on the author’s Facebook page.


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Anonymous said...

Dear david,

Please kindly delete the comments from those idiots above who would turn your blog into their own political agenda playground. I call it a playground because most of them have the analytical power and maturity of 5yr olds. They make the most noise and contribute to nothing but feel the need to comment on everything. And all suiting only their own agenda of course. Kindly remove them and let's get this blog back on military topics. Thanks and keep up the excellent write-ups! :)

Anonymous said...

I can't believe I read through each and every comment here.

Anonymous said...

I read one of the posts mentioning that University matriculation only takes place in August. I think the person who posted this just shows that he is not up-to-date with the fact. University (NUS, NTU) intake is now twice a year.